NEW YORK (AP) – Nothing better illustrates the political passions of a television audience than a hearing for a presidential inauguration.
The 6.53 million people who watched President Joe Biden take the oath of office and make his inaugural speech on MSNBC on Wednesday were 338% larger than the audience for Donald Trump’s oath four years ago, Nielsen said. .
On the other hand, Fox News Channel’s 2.74 million audience for Biden on Wednesday represented a nearly 77% drop in its audience for Trump in 2017, Nielsen said.
A preliminary estimate from Nielsen shows that Biden’s inaugural audience on the top six networks surpassed Trump by 4%. Nielsen said it does not have a complete estimate for the inaugural screening because it is still counting people who watched on other networks or outside the home.
CNN, with 10 million viewers, easily beat ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and Fox during Biden’s big moment, Nielsen said. That’s 196% more than Trump watched four years ago.
CNN, which has been in a good following since Biden’s victory, has also outperformed all others for its coverage of the inaugural celebration of prime time.
MSNBC, meanwhile, said it registered the largest daytime audience in the network’s nearly 25-year history on Wednesday.
ABC had 7.66 million viewers for the oath (10% increase over 2017), NBC had 6.89 million (down 12%) and CBS had 6.07 million (down 13%) said Nielsen.